![\"Toronto](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2184581303-e1756767772809.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Analyst shares surprising lines for Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> will have some major lineup decisions to make this season.<\/p>\n Toronto saw Mitch Marner leave this offseason and has some question marks in the top-six. William Nylander could play on the top line, or the Maple Leafs could put Max Domi or Mattias Maccelli on the top line.<\/p>\n Yet, another question is who plays on the second line with John Tavares. Maple Leafs analyst Jon Seitzer of LeafsNation believes coach Craig Berube should have Scott Laughton move from center to the wing and play with Tavares.<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s my case for looking at Laughton on Tavares\u2019 wing,\u201d Seitzer wrote<\/a>. \u201cLaughton brings both physical and defensive zone attributes to a line featuring Tavares and Nylander that could benefit from someone handling the offensive zone forecheck as well as acting as a reliable F1 in the defensive zone.<\/p>\n \u201cLaughton brings his experience as a centre to a line where there is some debate about how long Tavares will continue in the center role,\u201d Seitzer added. \u201cIt is more important to build an optimized second line than an optimized fourth line. Offensively, Laughton is a borderline second-line player and has done well in a supporting role with the Flyers when given offensively gifted players to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n As Seitzer notes, Laughton can produce offensively and be a good second-line forward for the Maple Leafs. Yet, whether or not he will get that chance is uncertain, as Berube may want him as a third or fourth-line center and instead focus on a defensive role.<\/p>\n Laughton is entering the final year of his five-year, $15 million deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Laughton Was Part of the Maple Leafs\u2019 Fourth-Line<\/p>\n Toronto made a bold move to acquire Laughton at the trade deadline, and the Maple Leafs paid a hefty price.<\/p>\n The Maple Leafs traded a first-round pick and Nikita Grebenkin, who was one of Toronto\u2019s top prospects. Laughton was supposed to be an impact third-line center; however, he struggled to produce and was demoted to the fourth line during the season.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to create a line of Laughton, Lorentz, and Jarnkrok,\u201d Berube said of the demotion. \u201cJust more of an identity line. A checking line.\u201d<\/p>\n Laughton struggled in his Maple Leafs tenure, and Berube believes he was too focused on playing perfectly.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s trying to probably play the game without making mistakes, and he\u2019s overthinking things instead of just playing. Go Laughts, just play. Be aggressive, do your thing. That\u2019ll come around, I do believe that. He wants to do well, and he\u2019s just got to loosen up and go play,\u201d Berube said.<\/p>\n Laughton recorded 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points in 20 regular-season games<\/a>. He added 0 goals and 2 assists in 13 playoff games.<\/p>\n Knies Has Intriguing Option for Maple Leafs Top Line<\/p>\n Toronto will have a new-look top line with Marner now playing for the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ahead of training camp, Matthew Knies hinted at William Nylander playing on the top line with him and Auston Matthews.<\/p>\n \u201cWilly is pretty dynamic,\u201d Knies said to\u00a0The Toronto Sun<\/a>. \u201cThat wouldn\u2019t be a bad thing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Nylander playing on the top line does make sense, but whether or not Berube will do it is uncertain.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tCole Shelton<\/a> Cole Shelton covers the NHL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more. More about Cole Shelton<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Maple Leafs\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Analyst shares surprising lines for Maple Leafs. The Toronto Maple Leafs will have some major lineup decisions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-113562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}